Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 88 Yuan Shu's Response
"How ridiculous! What does Yuan Shu mean by this? Is he trying to put me in an unjust position?" Sun Ce said angrily.
Zhou Yu, who was standing aside, also had a strange look on his face at this time - they had just received a reply from Yuan Shu, in which he agreed that Sun Ce would use the imperial seal in exchange for the Sun Zhou clan members and the old members of the Sun family in Huainan.
However, he made a request, which was to exchange the location and put it in Xunyang...
The Xunyang County at that time was different from that in later generations. In the Jin Dynasty, the western part of Jiujiang was called Xunyang, which means the Yang of Xunshui. The current Xunyang is located in the southern part of Lujiang County, south of Wancheng, and close to the north bank of the Yangtze River.
It is across the river from Chaisang of Yuzhang County in Jiangdong, and not far upstream is Jiangxia County of Jingzhou. At that time, Huang Zu, the prefect of Jiangxia, was deploying defenses in Echeng, which was close to the river. Echeng later served as the capital of Eastern Wu, and thus exchanged its name with "Wuchang City". The current Echeng is the location of Wuchang in later generations.
Yuan Shu not only suggested that Sun Ce go to Xunyang for the handover, he even suggested that Sun Ce temporarily stay in Xunyang Ferry. To this end, he nominally explained the conflict between Sun Ce and Liu Xun as a "misunderstanding"... but he did not punish Liu Xun!
It looked like he still wanted Sun Ce to be his shield.
However, this was tantamount to humiliation for Sun Ce.
It would be fine if he didn't agree to Bai Tu's recruitment for the time being, but could he take the imperial seal and return to Yuan Shu's camp? Is this something a human would do?
"Gongjin, why don't you say anything? Are you so angry that you can't speak?" Sun Ce asked.
Zhou Yu rolled his eyes at him and said, "What's there to be angry about? Yuan Shu has already torn his relationship with us, so he can resort to any scheme he can think of.
But I was thinking that this strategy was not Yuan Shu's style, nor was it something that Yan Xiang, Yang Hong and the others would have planned... After we were 'captured' by Lord Bai, we were still able to produce the imperial seal. It is easy to guess that Lord Bai secretly approved of it, and it can also be seen that Lord Bai intended to recruit us.
However... using the safety of clan members and generals to coerce is a common tactic of Yuan Shu, but using conspiracy to alienate us, and even using profit to force us to break with Bai Gong, and risking our backlash, this method does not seem to be the work of any of Yuan Shu's subordinates."
"Why are you still considering whose idea it was? Think about how to break the impasse first! When there's a chance in the future, I'll chop that bastard who came up with the idea into pieces!" Sun Ce said angrily.
When he heard the words "cut into pieces", Zhou Yu looked at Sun Ce twice, but did not say much - he always felt that the person who came up with this idea , although on the surface he was calculating against Bai Tu and wanted to dissolve his kindness, also seemed to be thinking about Sun Ce.
"Break the impasse? No, this is already an open conspiracy. We have very few choices." Zhou Yu said.
Zhou Yu paused and said, "First of all, we can't choose not to change, so we will go directly to the second option... After that, should we find a way to leave quietly, or take a gamble and see if Lord Bai will agree to let us go to Xunyang?"
"Of course I have to meet Mr. Bai. How can I leave without saying goodbye?" Sun Ce said as a matter of course.
"Just tell Mr. Bai that we are going to Xunyang?" Zhou Yu asked back.
"Of course, but I..."
"You won't help Yuan Shu? By then we will be in Xunyang and have our own troops. Will Lord Bai believe it?"
"this……"
"And if I were Yuan Shu... no, I should say if I were the person who gave advice to Yuan Shu, even if I got the jade seal later, I would definitely propose to return the prisoners in batches. We must stay in Xunyang to garrison troops." Zhou Yu added.
What Zhou Yu didn't say, but Sun Ce knew in his heart, was that if he left for Xunyang without saying goodbye, Bai Tu would never trust him even if Sun Ce wanted to return to Jiangdong later.
In other words, if you leave without saying goodbye, it is equivalent to turning against Bai Tu, and if you say goodbye in advance, Bai Tu will most likely force you to stay!
Upon hearing this, Sun Ce sat cross-legged on the ground, rubbing his hair with his hands in annoyance. The red scarf on his forehead fell down.
This headscarf was a relic left to him by Sun Jian. It was something Sun Jian once carried with him. When Sun Ce saw this headscarf, he thought of his father.
During the campaign against Dong Zhuo, Sun Jian served as the vanguard and fought fiercely with Hua Xiong at Hulao Pass. When he was defeated and pursued, Zu Mao, an old subordinate of Sun Jian who had watched Sun Ce grow up, exchanged helmets with Sun Jian, put on a red scarf, and led Hua Xiong away. In the end, Sun Jian escaped, but Zu Mao was killed by Hua Xiong.
Later, when Luoyang was on fire, Sun Jian's troops rushed into Luoyang first. In Dong Zhuo's mansion, they found his own turban - which had been sent back to Dong Zhuo as a souvenir of his military exploits by Hua Xiong as a substitute for Sun Jian's head!
There is also a secret here, which others are not very clear about, but Sun Ce still remembers it.
That year, Sun Ce was only eight years old, and Sun Jian had just become the prefect of Changsha. At that time, Qu Xing instigated the refugee officers in the county to rebel. When Sun Jian just took office, Qu Xing had already gathered more than 10,000 people. The reason why he appointed Sun Jian, a "mere military man", as the prefect was because he valued his fighting ability, and Zu Mao was the Qu Xing at that time!
Sun Jian personally went into battle and captured Zu Mao alive. At first, he did not discover his identity and thought he was a general under Qu Xing. He then discovered that Zu Mao was very brave and had armor - in other words, Zu Mao was once a grassroots officer of the Han army.
Therefore, after understanding the grievances between the former Changsha governor and Zu Mao, as well as the reasons for his rebellion, he proposed to recruit him...
You have to know that Dong Zhuo had not yet entered the capital at that time, and the majesty of the Han Dynasty was much greater than it is now. Sun Jian would have to take a huge risk by privately pardoning the rebel general!
Zu Mao was moved and suggested that he could return to the rebel camp and persuade his colleagues who had joined the rebellion because of the previous governor's deeds.
Sun Jian believed it without reservation and released Zu Mao directly. In the end, Zu Mao did not break his promise and surrendered with his subordinates and told Sun Jian his true identity.
At that time, Sun Jian smiled and said to Zu Mao that he actually knew his identity a long time ago, but he let him go because he believed in his character...
The Qu Xing Uprising that eventually wreaked havoc in Changsha was completely quelled in less than two months. The leader Qu Xing disappeared, but Sun Jian gained a subordinate named Zu Mao.
But Sun Ce later heard from Sun Jian that he actually had no idea that Zu Mao was Qu Xing and was just pretending to be nice. This made Sun Ce learn two things: one was "trust" and the other was "pretending to be nice".
In history when there was no "white rabbit effect", Sun Ce also treated Taishi Ci in the same way. Perhaps it was because when they were fighting in a duel , Taishi Ci once knocked off his helmet, which made him think of his father and great-uncle from his turban.
It's the same now, but Sun Ce's identity has changed...
"Tomorrow morning, I will go to bid farewell to Lord Bai. If Lord Bai does not allow us to leave, Gongjin... you must find a way to leave, and you don't have to worry about me then." Sun Ce said as he took out the jade seal from under his crotch.
Zhou Yu took two steps back in disgust, then said helplessly: "I knew you were an idiot... Never mind, I'll go with you tomorrow. Even if Mr. Bai wants to stay, I have my own way."
In fact, Zhou Yu actually hoped that Bai Tu would force the two of them to stay, so that he could eliminate Sun Ce's intention to stay under Bai Tu's command. Although it was a little dangerous, Zhou Yu was sure that he could let him and Sun Ce leave Qu'a safely.
Even though he was restrained on three sides in Xunyang, Zhou Yu still had the confidence to face the challenge. Instead, he was more worried that Sun Ce would lose his ambition to be independent.
Thinking of this, Zhou Yu frowned - who could be the one who persuaded Yuan Shu? It actually coincided with his idea. If he was in Huainan at this time, he would also persuade Yuan Shu in the same way. On the surface, it was for Yuan Shu's sake, but in fact, it was to put Sun Ce to death and then survive!
Of course, if it was Zhou Yu, Yuan Shu would definitely not listen to his "beep"...
